Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Panel from the Humility Polyptych - Umilta resuscitates a dead child
  • Creator: Lorenzetti, Pietro, painter, attributed to
  • Description: Umiltà of Faenza (born Rosanese Negusanti) was an abbess and holy woman. In Florence, she founded the Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista, a Vallombrosian house for women. This is one of the fourteen panels of the Humility Polyptych, which was constructed to celebrate Umiltà’s life and miracles. In this scene, Umiltà performs the miraculous resuscitation of a dead child, which is intended to reflect Christ’s raising of Lazarus. Stylistically, the incorporation of architectural elements sets the scenes for Umiltà's multiple representations within the same panel. On the right side of the panel, an arch opening to a chapel surrounds Umiltà who is kneeling in prayer over a dead child placed on the altar step. Towards the center and left sides of the panel, a portal frames Umiltà standing with the reanimated child whom she presents to his grateful family. Cordelia Warr emphasizes the appeal the saint’s cult held for mothers who regularly sent their infants to be raised by wetnurses in the countryside. The vitae of Umiltà in fact record that the child was being taken to his family by the wetnurse when he died.
  • Source: Umilta Website
  • Rights: Reproduced with permission
  • Subject (See Also): Abbesses Children Family Hagiography Healers and Healing Miracles Monasticism Mothers Umilta of Faenza, Mystic and Saint Women in Religion
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 14
  • Date: 1335-1340
  • Related Work: Humility Polyptych. See a reconstruction of the polyptych on the Feminae website.
  • Current Location: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
  • Original Location: Florence, Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista, a Vallombrosan house for women founded by Umiltà
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Polyptych; Wood panel
  • Donor: Lay woman? [Cordelia Warr in her article cited above suggests the kneeling donor figure in the polyptych is a lay woman based on her clothing, pp. 296-297.]
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 45 cm/37 cm/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: Cordelia Warr, “Viewing and commissioning Pietro Lorenzetti’s Saint Humility Polyptych,” Journal of Medieval History 26, 3 (2000), Janet G. Smith, "Santa Umilta of Faenza: Her Florentine Convent and Its Art", Visions of Holiness: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Italy, [Athens, GA], Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2001